January Lessons

We jumped right in after the Holiday Break with Winter Weather Word Processing  and Graphing Weather.

Kindergarten made Snowmen in Tux Paint (they are adorable!!) 

1st Grade typed a weather poem in MS Word and then made a weather picture to go with it in TuxPaint. When the students finish their picture they went to Keyboard Climber.

2nd Grade typed Snowman poems in MS Word and made pictures to add to the poem. 

3rd Grade used MS Excel to enter temperature data and created a graph. 

Hour of Code...Come Join the Fun!

I am excited to be holding our 2nd annual "Hour of Code" throughout the month of December. This year all Kinder - 5th grade classes will have a chance to learn coding (programming) through the tutorials offered at Code.org 

If you are interested in participating with your child, please check with your teacher for their date and time to visit the Computer Lab, or email me at barbara.neill@austinisd.org 
There have been some schedule changes due to field trips and holiday performances. 

You do not need to know anything about coding. The activities have tutorials and this is a time for students to work together and learn from each other. The rule is, "Ask three, and then ask me." They will enjoy helping each other and problem-solving together. You can preview the lessons at www.code.org/learn.

Hope to see you there!

Tap, Tap, Tap goes the Keyboard

Get those fingers moving! 

1st through 3rd grade have started working on keyboarding skills. Please let your children practice typing on your home computer.

3rd grade starts the year learning Home Row keyboarding. They need to practice this regularly. 3rd grade uses the keyboarding lessons through Learning.com, which requires a login. Your student should have a copy of the login to use at home, ask your teacher. 

1st and 2nd grade are using a web-based game, Keyboard Climber, to learn where the letters are located on the keyboard. Later in the year, 2nd grade will begin practicing Home Row keyboarding. 

All elementary students should practice keyboarding on a standard keyboard. Many students do not feel the need to do this due to texting on phones and mobile devices. However, they will be required to type on keyboards at school. 

Ideas for helping your child practice typing: 
1) Try some of these activities, and try to use Home Row hand positions - Keyboard Practice Sites
2) Type a letter or email to a grandparent or friend. 
3) Practice making upper case letters, do not use the Caps Lock...this seems to be a trend that I would like to stop. Please show your child how to use the Shift key. 
4) Use proper spacing between words...one space.

Happy Typing!

Welcome Back!

It is always so exciting to see the kids coming back to school. My how they have grown! 

The first two weeks of school, Ms. Richey and I will be seeing the kids together to talk about our rules and expectations for the Library and the Computer Lab. The week of Sept. 8 - 12 we will begin seeing classes for regular visits. Classes will alternate each week between Library and Computer Lab for 45 minute visits.

If your child has not learned how to use a computer mouse, please help them with this at home. Many students know how to use a touch device, but that's not what we will be using in the computer lab. It is also a good idea to help the younger children begin learning to find letters on a keyboard. This year, I will work more with our primary kids on keyboarding skills. 

Looking forward to another great year!

 

6th Grade Murchison Tech Literacy Exam

Please go to the Murchison webpage if you are interested in signing up your student for this exam. 
http://www.murchisonmatadors.org

6th Grade Tech Competency Study Guide

Spring 2014
Murchison MS Competency Exam Study Guide
Murchison MS Competency Exam Study Guide© Created by: Teri L. Bolin
* Exam will be administered the end of May. Please check back for the link to our online “Pre-Registration”.
COMPETENCY EXAM TECHNOLOGY LITERACY
The purpose of this exam is for incoming 6th graders to show competency in multiple areas of software and AISD technical expectations. A grade of 80% or higher will result in a student testing out of the second semester of the IB Technology Literacy course required by all 6th graders to take. The course is designed to help students develop the necessary skills to be successful during their middle school years and beyond.
Students must be able show competency in the following areas:

District Technology Literacy Assessment will be considered in addition to applying knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
• Student Login
• AISD Cloud
• Student Directory/Shared Directory
• Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint
• Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrate appropriate technology concepts and digital citizenship
• Develop products using creativity and innovation
• Demonstrate skills needed to function effectively in today's global economy
• Conduct accurate research using various resources and methods
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills to make decisions and to solve problems
• Demonstrate technical knowledge of the Internet.

1. WORD
Competencies
• Apply beginning level keyboarding and document formatting skills to produce business documents
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of word processing software functions
• Format and key letters, memos, and reports following the Style & Reference Manual
• Proofread text for accuracy, content, grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Revise, edit, and spell-check documents
• Use paragraph formatting, tab settings, and text enhancements (e.g. bold, italics, underline)
• Use electronic and hard copy references to assist in preparing documents (e.g. help screens, spellcheck, thesaurus, user’s manual, dictionary)

2. EXCEL
Competencies
• Demonstrate basic skills in the use of spreadsheet software
• Create and format spreadsheets
• Enter and edit data on spreadsheets
• Perform basic spreadsheet functions
• Create graphs and/or charts
• Use printing options including formulas and gridlines
• Demonstrate skills needed to insert charts into other media

3. POWERPOINT
Competencies
• Demonstrate basic skills in the use of multimedia software
• Demonstrate knowledge of multimedia and promotion.
• Demonstrate knowledge slide transition or other animation
• Apply skills needed to select slide layout designs
• Demonstrate knowledge of converting presentations to a windows media video

4. PUBLISHER
Competencies
• Demonstrate basic skills in the use of publisher software
• Create and format s brochure
• Enter and edit data in a brochure
• Perform basic publisher functions
• Save as single file web page

5. RESEARCH
Competencies
• Demonstrate technical knowledge of the Internet.
• Conduct accurate research using various resources and methods.
• Demonstrate skills needed to locate images relevant to topic
• Demonstrate skills needed to save images

Murchison MS Technology Competency Exam Study Guide

From Murchison Tech Department:
On May 30th at 3:00, 5th graders will have the opportunity to take a Technology Placement Exam to get credit for a 6th Grade basic Tech class(1 semester) that is required. This exam will be given in the Summitt computer lab.

If your child is serious about the Fine Arts, including Advanced Band, it is recommended that these students take this Technology Competency exam. If your student meets the goals of this exam they will be given credit for one IB Tech Literacy course(one semester).

Please contact Barbara Neill (bneill@austinisd.org) if  you would like your child to take this exam.